Fire &amp; explosions in Dommeldange

Huge clouds of black smoke billowed from Arcelor owned warehouses in Dommeldange on Saturday night. Flames shot more than 20 metres into the air and many explosions could be heard.

14.03.2012

Huge clouds of black smoke billowed from Arcelor owned warehouses in Dommeldange on Saturday night. Flames shot more than 20 metres into the air and many explosions could be heard.

Several warehouses, which were leased to roofing and painting firms, were ablaze. One of the largest warehouses collapsed after an explosion, where the fire is believed to have started although the original report to police was of a burning bush.

"The first team that arrived at the scene soon realised the seriousness of the situation," said the commander of the Fire Brigade, Erny Kirsch to wort.lu in the early hours of Saturday morning.

From bush fire to massive warehouse fire

The entire route d’Arlon fire station next to the capital’s stadium, with all the fire engines were sent to the scene, arriving to find a hug raging fire.

"The problem here was that the halls in the warehouses are built directly next to each other and there are no fire zones," said Erny Kirsch. "The fire danger is therefore possible in all directions."

Then came the next problem of water supply as there were no fire hydrants on the site. Tankers were rushed in from Beggen.

"Because of the difficult situation we then decided to call in firefighters and emergency personnel from Walferdange from the BNS from Lintgen," says Commander Kirsch.

Lethal explosions

"Everywhere in the warehouses gas bottles exploded again and again," continued Erny Kirsch. "That's why we were very careful not to endanger lives of emergency personnel. For some time it was not clear who the premises were rented out and what was stored there”.

The fire was eventually extinguished after about just less than three hours. Some of the building walls had bulges due to the explosions. At the time of the accident nobody at the premises.

A total of 70 people from emergency services were present at the scene with 17 emergency vehicles tackling the blaze for just over 2 and half hours. Luckily nobody was injured in the fire.